The platform will move from a plain business listing of sorts, where customers could view reviews and business hours, to an interactive page where the business owners can share content, special events and photos, as well as interact with customers.

In short, it seems that Google My Business will be operating in the same capacity as a Facebook page.

Another improvement Google boasts will be the ability for all information to be harmonious across its other platforms, including Search, Maps, and Google +.

Anyone who has had a previous Google places listing has automatically been updated to a My Business page, so business owners should take note of the changes and start to update their information accordingly.

How this update will affect search results and rankings will only be ascertained with time.

To combat this, Google has recently announced a major algorithm change to their search spiders, which is aimed at combatting ‘over-optimized’ websites that modify their content and links to manipulate search engine results. Without getting into the discussion of what Google has recommended in the past (for responsible SEO) versus what they now consider ‘over-optimization’, it’s fair to say that Google’s efforts are noble. It’s a hard, almost impossible task to clean up the web of spam, but they have to do it to maintain their quality searches.

However, does their new algorithm go too far? Numerous reports are flying around the web about ridiculous search results, that contradict everything that Google is aiming to do with this release. Basically, any site that has typical ‘cheap’ SEO tactics, such as keyword stuffing, SEO content, or over-optimized link building, are set to be punished. However, labeling a bad guy is not as easy as simply detecting suspicious links and reading a few paragraphs on a person’s site. Here are my concerns:

• Penalizing people for something they didn’t do. As far as we know, link building can’t be traced to an individual or company. Recent evidence shows that websites with suspicious back links, ex. Links from spammy sites with exact keyword text, or tons of links built in a small amount of time, can be used punished using the new algorithm. If it doesn’t look ‘natural’, it’s suspicious. However, ANYONE can link to any site they deem fit. The company or website has no control over who links to them. So this brings in the rise of Negative SEO. Black Hat SEOs now have the chance to use malicious, irresponsible link building techniques on their competitors sites, causing Google to potentially punish those sites, clearing the way for the SEO’s money site to rise. Essentially, anyone has the potential to ‘frame’ another site. If the news is true, then we might be in for a very dirty time in the SEO industry.
• Google sets unrealistic expectations. There’s no doubt that the best tactic for a website or business is to write great content, build great online relationships, and spread their brand across the web. This builds natural, high quality and relevant links which will eventually reward the website with great rankings. However, when the SEO world is already so integrated with powerful domains, with amazing reach, or years of natural (and unnatural) link building, how are newcomers supposed to compete? The fact is, that for years, Google has recommended an action plan that’s less effective (for most people) than the conventional SEO method of gaining a large mix of both low and high quality links. Whether Google has liked it or not, it’s works. To see clients spend months trying to build naturally, while their competitors use less natural method of linking but reap the rewards of high rankings (and higher sales) is frustrating to see. I haven’t seen any evidence to show that the new algorithms are helping the ‘little guys’, if anything, it’s seeing a rise in rankings for large corporations, who have massive sites and tons of links. How is the small business supposed to compete with that?
• Black Hat SEO will always outsmart the Algorithm. From a pessimistic point of view, those that develop the ‘black-hat’ methods of link building that Google despises will always be one step ahead of the algorithm. In the end, it’s a computer attempting to distinguish what’s relevant for humans. Once a certain type of link building is deemed ineffective, SEOs will find ways to appear natural to Search Engines, and continue to dominate in rankings. By giving more arsenal to the bad guys (by punishing ‘bad’ link building), Google may be heading into a period of odd, strange rankings dominated by clever spam artists and major corporations.

I’m by no means against Google’s move to combat the SEO villains. However, I’m concerned that this latest move is a bit too harsh, too aggressive, and may be punishing the wrong people. Google has a very very hard task ahead of them, I just hope they tackle it responsibly before they cause the complete opposite of what they want.

What do you think Google should be doing to help clean up our search engines?

Over the past year or so, Google has been updating it’s algorithm with their new Caffeine web indexing system, which allows them to scan the web faster, and provide fresh content for search results. Just this month, they’ve made even more improvements, making searches even more current. News Articles or content that discuss current events pertaining to a user’s search query will appear ahead of older material. Writing about hot topics, such as the Occupy Wallstreet movement, or making articles about recurring events, such as industry tradeshows, are all what Google considers to be more ‘relevant’. So what should you do? Create new content! Focus on what’s important to people in the moment.

In addition to this ‘fresh’ new change, Google has implemented several new tech-based changes to their algorithm. You can check them out here: http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2011/11/ten-recent-algorithm-changes.html.

Many companies, small and large, are finding out that they need to transition a lot of traditional methods of communication and organization to the web. This can be especially difficult for some of the smaller ‘mom-and-pop’ businesses that aren’t very tech-savvy. Only a few years ago, systems that allowed businesses to share information online and collaborate among teams were far too expensive and complex for the average user. Nowadays, there are so many open source online platforms that any business has the option to be ‘online’ for little to no cost.

Google, which has revolutionized the way people search and advertise online has done a great job of creating online tools that are very useful for businesses and individuals. Here are a three of the tools that could, and probably should, be implemented by your business:

Gmail has become one of the most popular email platforms online. Available to the general public since 2007, this free web platform became an instant success when it started offering 1GB mail space per user and attachments over 25MB. It’s clean layout, excellent spam filter, and method of searching and organization has made it a perfect tool for businesses and individuals. Simple to access and implement, there’s no reason why businesses should not implement it. With some more advanced configuration, you can also use your domain with the Gmail (allowing you to use gmail for your email@yourbusiness.com accounts).

Check it out here.

Docs is Google’s answer to an online version of Microsoft Office. This collection of office tools contains a word processor, a spreadsheet editor,  a form creator, and a basic drawing application. The really nice thing this tool has is the ability to collaborate simultaneously with multiple people. So far example, if you’re editing a contract with a colleague, you can both add to, delete, or modify the document at the same time. This makes document revisions, edits, and creation much more efficient (in contrast to sending back and forth via email or in person). In addition, it makes sharing documents with others a snap, since it’s completely online based (all you need to do is grant a person access to the document).

Google Docs allows you to have your documents wherever you have an internet connection. It works the same way as email, if you create the document at home, you can still check it at your office with your smart phone or computer, or even in another country since it’s all online.

Learn more about this solid tool at Google Docs Homepage.

Google Calendar is exactly what it sounds like, an online calendar hosted by Google. It looks much like a digital calendar on your desktop or a printed calendar on your wall. It reminds you of important appointments and dates coming up via your email, and allows you to set appointments with others. In addition, you have the ability to share your calendar with colleagues so they can see your availability (and vice versa) and you can coordinate accordingly. Since it integrates flawlessly with Google Docs and Gmail, you have coherent and consistent communication among your team.

These are three of the best tools Google has to offer. Although they have plenty of others such as Google Talk, Google Pages, Google Buzz and others, for anyone wanting to transition their business online, this is a good place to start.

It appears that Google+ will be integrated right into your gmail and personalize searches on Google.com. Here are some of the main features that are being touted by Google:

• Instant Upload – Presumably using the Android Platform (will iPhones get some love sooner than later?), people will be able to easily share photos and videos from their mobile device with their Google Places photo album. You can then share that uploaded media with anyone you’d like.

• Hangouts –  Hangouts seems to be a fancy way of organizing Google Chat (both text and Video). Essentially, a Hangout is a chat room involving specific people or ‘circles’. There’s nothing groundbreaking about this, but it could allow Businesses using Google Apps to organize online meetings in one place.

• Sparks – Sparks is Google’s equivalent of StumbleUpon and similar platforms. Add what you’re ‘interested in’ and Google will routinely update you with interesting things to watch, read, or share. This could open it up for “Spark Engine Optimization” based on how Google determines rankings.

• Circles – Circles appears to be an easy way of organizing your contacts. You can simply add any contact into a ‘circle’ and segment messages and things you share with each circle. Again, nothing ground breaking, but could help people split their pleasures with their business.

• Huddle – A simplified version of Group Chat. While it seems to be similar to ‘hangouts’, group chat simply allows you to send texts to everyone in a particular circle. There’s nothing really revolutionary about this, but it does simplify the process of contacting a bunch of people on a team via their mobile devices.

While Google+ is still in testing phases and as of today invites are not being given out due to very high demand, I’m sure there will be a lot more features announced in the coming months. However, just like many other Google projects that have failed in the past few years, only time will tell if Google+ will be a big player in the social media scene. We’ll keep you updated!